Telma: 2-The Desert
Year of the Great Kingdom 583
They left the Gerudo Fortress immediately; Little Telma was not even given a chance to say goodbye to her sister. Mama Vai nearly dislocated her small arm, dragging her down the steps from their home and out to the small stable beside the desert road. High above, on the chieftain's terrace, the girl caught sight of the wicked old woman that had studied her. She curled her lips back into a menacing glare down at the child once more before disappearing from sight.
After paying the stable for the use of a mule, Mama Vai threw their bundles and provisions onto its back and made for the eastward gate. Little Telma had never come this far from their room before and had always been warned that the desert was certain death for children. She tugged at her mother's hand, and looked up at her fearfully, but the great woman ignored her and pulled her out into the blowing sands.
For several, brutal days, the two struggled to cross the desert wasteland on foot. The sun's blazing heat burned them during the day, and the moon's terrible cold make them shiver at night. Mama Vai would not speak to her daughter, no matter how hard the little girl begged and sobbed. The only things that she would say were very simple commands: "Drink!", "Eat!", "Get Up!", "Walk!". At night, she would not even hold her, despite the cold.
They reached their first stop – a second Gerudo settlement, just as the last of their water had run out. Telma's lips were cracked & bloody and her throat was badly parched; she could not even cry, she was so dehydrated. The settlement was small -only a handful of mudbrick buildings- but one in particular stood out from the rest. It was much larger than all of the other houses, both in breadth and height. To one side of its entrance, stood the only stable in town. Mama Vai quickly watered and fed their mule here and roughly pulled her daughter toward the entrance of the building.
Inside, the air was thick with smoke and the smell of burning incense. Several candles were lit in sconces along the walls, but these failed to offer more than a dim twilight by which to see. A short entryway -lined with cloaks, staves, and boots haphazardly thrown along the sides- ended with the greeter's counter and a cross passage to the right or left. Behind the counter, sat another aged Vai with a large scroll of parchment and quill. Several doorless cupboards adorned the wall beside her – some with scraps of paper in them, some bearing small hourglasses steadily draining their sand from one glass vessel to the other.
When the two newcomers stepped up to the counter, the old woman did not even look at them. "I need to see Agnes." Mama Vai said firmly. "Are you drinking or 'meeting' today?" the crone asked, still scribbling on her parchment. "Neither." Answered Telma's mother, "I am here to see Agnes!" she repeated, her voice rising a little. The vulture-like clerk carefully set down her quill and turned two very yellow, very annoyed eyes up at her. "If you're not here for drinking… and not here for 'meeting'… then you must be here for 'working'… and Agnes leaves that to me!" she hissed through her brown and rotted teeth.
As the two elders argued, the small girl fearfully looked at her surroundings and wrapped one arm around her mother's leg for comfort. This place was very strange to her. There was smoke and unfamiliar smells. To the left, down a short hall, there was a room of tables and chairs with a bar along the back wall (of course, Telma had no idea what a bar was. She just saw a large collection of bottles and cups). To the right, a long hallway ran the remaining length of the building, with several pairs of doors on each side. A rough staircase, behind the old crone and her scrolls, led to the second floor.
"I am not here to argue with you – you old bat!" shouted Mama Vai suddenly, "I am here to see Agnes! Bring her! NOW!" Violently, she drew her dagger and thrust it downward, into the countertop, through the old woman's parchment. A dry sob escaped little Telma's lips as she hugged herself in fear – Why was mama being so angry? Knives are so dangerous!
The old clerk glared at the Gerudo mother for a moment, before twisting around and shrieking up the staircase, "AGNES! Need you down here!"